Walsh, James P.M. (Father)

Jesuit Father James P. M. Walsh died on June 30, 2015, at Manresa Hall outside Philadelphia. He was a Jesuit priest for 45 years.

A native of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Fr. Walsh was an alumnus of Scranton Preparatory School and entered the Society of Jesus at the Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. He received his bachelor’s degree from West Baden College (Loyola University) in West Baden Springs, Indiana, and went on to receive a Ph.D. in Scripture at Harvard University. He was ordained on June 6, 1970.

Fr. Walsh began teaching in 1962, teaching English and Latin at Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C. After his ordination and studies at Harvard, he became a professor of theology at Woodstock College in New York and later at Georgetown University.

Teaching was his true passion, but Fr. Walsh always looked for new opportunities and challenges, even later in life. In 2008, he translated to English captions from the original 400- year-old engravings depicting the life of Ignatius Loyola for the book, “Constructing a Saint Through Images: The 1609 Illustrated Biography of Ignatius of Loyola.” In 2009, he made a pioneering journey to become one of the first Jesuit teachers in Doha, Qatar, even flying four seniors from Georgetown to the Middle East for the experience of a lifetime.

In 2010, Fr. Walsh returned to the United States and remained an associate professor of theology at Georgetown University until his illness and death at age 77.